The
Institution for American Church Growth reports from recent research
that growing churches show more love to their members and visitors
than declining churches. While leadership, location, facility, and
evangelistic fervor have all been named through the years as reasons
for church growth, none of these are now considered as significant as
the love and acceptance people experience when they attend a church.
We
may have but few prophetic voices among us these days, but Arnold
Hardin, who writes from the context of the “Conservative”
Churches of Christ, often speaks like a prophet in that he calls upon
us to repent. In his recent
The
Persuader
he
writes: “The saddest thing among us today is that brethren are
programmed to believe that we must ‘goose-step’ to some
other’s tune or else be cast out. It is nothing but tragic what
‘religion’ does to folks. If we could only come to
understand what the gospel is all about then our ‘sectarian
religion’ could be set aside and all of us could accept each
other as Christ has already accepted us, warts and all. Thank God,
you do not have to agree with me in order to be saved! You only have
to search for an agreement with truth. And no one can make that for
you.” If you want on Arnold’s mailing list, the address
is 2920 Prairie Creek, Dallas, TX 75227.
Wrestling
With God
is
an hour-long film, now in preparation, dramatically portraying the
heroes of the Stone-Campbell Movement during its first generation. It
is to be professionally done, with David Haskell, who portrayed John
the Baptist on the stage, doing Alexander Campbell. The Disciples of
Christ Historical Society has passed a resolution endorsing it as
historically authentic. It is something all segments of our heritage
appreciate and support, and the Endorsing Advisory Council is made up
of men and women from all three of the major wings of the Movement.
We invite you to make a donation to this effort, as Ouida and I have
done more than once, so that it can be completed. If we give this
project the help it deserves, you should be able to see it on your
VCR at home or at your church. Seeing it acted out may be the best
way to learn, history. The address is Wrestling With God, 3600 Berry
Dr., Studio City, CA 91604.
Members
of Churches of Christ would be interested in Charles Colson’s
defense of the Collinsville, OK, Church of Christ in their litigation
with Marian Guinn, which appeared in the April issue of
Christianity
Today.
A
Presbyterian minister in Sapulpa, OK, in the May issue of the
journal, took Colson to task. He wrote, “If what he said is
based on a thorough knowledge of Church of Christ practices, then I
am horrified at his defense of a cruel and tyrannical system. I find
it hard to believe he would actually defend a system of church
discipline that forbids members to leave.” I wrote to the
Presbyterian minister that the Collinsville church has left the wrong
impression as to Church of Christ polity, that in all the history of
the Church of Christ I have never known of any church or any leader
that believed a member could not leave a congregation at will. And
almost certainly the Collinsville church is the only Church of Chirst
ever to withdraw from a member
after
she/he
withdrew membership. I further told him that we are not all that
different from the Presbyterians, thatthe vast majority of our
churches never withdraw fellowship from anyone for any reason, and
that if we withdrew from all those who commit adultery that we might
have a lot fewer members.
Our
readers in the Michigan area will be interested in a Unity Meeting to
be held in Fenton, Oct. 16-18, that will give special attention to
the relationship between Biblical interpretation and factionalism.
Participants will include J. Harold Thomas of the University Church
of Christ in Conway, Arkansas; Walter Zorn, professor at Great Lakes
Bible College, Lansing, Michigan; and Leroy Garrett, editor of
Restoration
Review.
For
a program of events write to Integrity, 10367 Carmer, Fenton, MI
48430.
Another
Sad Summer
-
One
indication of the personal nature of this journal, personal
journalism I have called it, is that Ouida and I share our joys and
sorrows with our readers, many of whom are closer friends and all
of whom are close to our hearts. Two years ago you shared with us in
the loss of our granddaughter, and now we reluctantly burden you
with the sad news of the death of our son Philip, 29, who died in
George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. on August
2, with his mother at his side.
-
He
came to us from an orphanage in Karlsruhe, Germany at age 6, where
the overworked staff could not give him the TLC that every baby has
to have. His apparent inability to give and receive love was a
problem he and we could never quite solve. His younger brother,
David Ben, also adopted and now a counsellor for the State of
Missouri, sat in his mother’s lap until he was so big it was
embarrassing, and so Ouida would playfully tell him that when he
weighed as much as she that
she
would
sit in
his
lap!
But poor Philip could not easily touch or be touched. It was the
beginning of his woes and of ours.
-
He
was never able to put it together. His apparent craving for
acceptance and attention caused him to do all the wrong things, and
he turned people off. He could not learn from his mistakes and would
not listen to his parents. He made it through high school, gave
college a brief wave of the hand, and was soon gone. We seldom heard
from him in spite of our overtures. But it may simply be that we
failed him as parents. We were soon to learn that he was on the fast
lane, an escapade that was to cost him his life, for he died of an
AIDS-related disease.
-
Before
the end came some things improved. He could tell us that he loved
us, regretted the life he had lived, and renewed his faith in
Christ. When Ouida held his hand and spoke of the forgiving love of
God, he nodded with quiet assurance.
-
While
I had to stay home with Ouida’s enfeebled mother, I was in
constant touch by phone. When Ouida told me that Philip had only
hours left, I repaired to my office and continued my study of
Psalms, heeding the advice of the late William Barclay that amidst
adversity one should stay busy. Before me was this line from Ps.
63:3,
Your
loving kindness (mercy) is better than life.
The
commentator noted how that contradicts our most basic assumption
that nothing is more precious than life and how we will pay any
price for a few more years. But God’s mercy, once realized, is
better than life itself.
-
I
thought of that frightened little boy that I met at Idlewild
International Airport in New York 24 years ago. It was indeed so
traumatic that he was never able to recall anything at all about his
dramatic trip from Germany to the United States. I tried not to
burden myself with all the
Whys
of
his apparently misspent life, but God’s Spirit brought comfort
to my sad heart with that staggering truth. If that troubled young
man at last realized the mercy of God, that is better than growing
old and rich and fat. Ah, God’s mercy, which he is eager to
show, is better than life itself!
-
My
dear wife, who like a certain Confederate general stands like a
stonewall amidst the storms of life, arranged for the cremation of
the body and flew home without our adopted son. We decided on a
private family memorial in our home, led by George Massey, who was
until recently minister to our Denton church and who reached out to
the deceased when he was a kid. In his last hours Philip remembered
the preacher who was kind to him when he was a boy and told Ouida he
wanted him to do his funeral. And he wanted his sister Phoebe to
have the only thing of value he had in this world, a VCR and color
TV. Phoebe, also adopted and who if anything loves too much, cried
out in characteristic fashion, “I don’t want his VCR, I
want him!” But it was not to be.
-
Ouida
brought home with her some impressive memories: the loving
hospitality of our dear friends Lee and Rosemary Keesling, who took
her into their home and helped her through the crisis; the
professionalism and the kindness of the doctors and nurses; and Bill
Wagner, a Baptist minister who comforted Ouida’s aching heart
when he told of how he had helped Philip find his way back to the
faith he had when he was baptized as a teenager.
-
So
we thanked and praised God for his abounding grace, realizing that
there is still a great deal of goodness in the world.
-
We
will be all right. As I told Ouida, “I don’t understand,
but thank God I don’t have to. I only need to trust and that I
do.” But one day in God’s tomorrow when we no longer
look through the glass darkly we will understand.
-
“Oh,
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
—the
Editor